DPR negotiating roaming provision with Russia

The Donetsk People's Republic is holding negotiations with Russia on the provision of roaming to the DPR, Head of the Republic Alexander Zakharchenko stated at a press-conference.

Earlier the DPR and LPR informed that the Vodafone-Ukraine cellular operator had been disrupted in the territory of the republics due to damage of a cable in the Kiev-controlled area outside Yelenovka. The work of the mobile operator in the LPR territory has been restored. The DPR has been left without Ukrainian cellular communication for a month already. The issue of restoring the operation of Vodafone-Ukraine was also raised at meetings of the Contact Group on Donbass in Minsk.

"We are negotiating with the Russian Federation about providing us with roaming, I do not know what their [negotiations'] outcome will be like," Zakharchenko said.

Before the conflict, several mobile operators had worked in the territory of Donbass. Ukrainian Kievstar was one of the first to announce the termination of servicing of subscribers in the territory beyond Kiev's control. This happened in the winter of 2015. In the same year, the DPR authorities announced the creation of their own Phoenix mobile operator. In early 2017, the Lifecell operator ceased to serve subscribers in the part of Donbass that was not controlled by Kiev. Vodafone Ukraine remained the only Ukrainian cellular company, the connection of which continued to operate in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics.